Golden Knights rally for 4-3 win in overtime after Sharks' late-game blunders

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Reilly Smith tapped the puck into an open net in overtime following the second late-game blunder by San Jose goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Sharks on Thursday night.

The Sharks seemed poised for their first season-opening win in five seasons after they killed a penalty protecting a one-goal lead late in the third before a run of bad bounces and mistakes led to a crushing loss.

William Eklund nearly scored an empty-netter to ice it for the Sharks but he tapped his first attempt just wide and then had a wraparound stopped by defenseman Shea Theodore.

Vegas then went the other way and Jack Eichel innocently flipped the puck toward goal but it took an odd bounce and got past Nedeljkovic to tie it at 3 with 1:34 to play.

Nedeljkovic's problems only got worse in overtime when he came far out of his net to play a loose puck only to have it deflect right to Smith who was alone in front for the winner.

The Sharks lost 15 games last season after holding a lead in the third period and started this season off with another.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored his fourth goal of the season for Vegas and Brett Howden also scored as the Golden Knights bounced back from a shootout loss in their opener to Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

Akira Schmid made 20 saves.

Philipp Kurashev, Alexander Wennberg and Jeff Skinner scored for San Jose.

Nedeljkovic made 27 saves in the loss.

Golden Knights: At Seattle on Saturday night.

Sharks: Host Anaheim on Saturday night

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL